A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

So, I could care less about any technically "royal" blood. It's a bunch of hooey. BUT if there was ever anyone's progeny that I'd have cared about, it was Eddie Van Halen.

What an incredible birthrite to carry, what a beast to grow up with. As a kid I wished that was me. And I always hoped he'd grow up to either (1) truly rock or (2) at least not sully his dad's name.

Sadly, neither of those came through. IMO Wolfie puts out trash music. And worse than that, insults his father's legacy by using the name Mammoth. Like, at least choose some name appropriate for your elevator music.

I presume that'll be a wildly unpopular opinion. But sometimes ya just gotsta lay the truth out on the table.

So I just checked a few tracks on YouTube to make sure I wasn't gonna eat my shoe.

He's not a bad player at all, but the music is still bland any-random-radio-band style stuff.

And THEN I saw he's coming out with a signature semi-hollow. And I'm just like...whyyyyy must you smash your father's legacy into a steaming pile?

He's got every right to do and play what makes him happy. It's just sullying the Mammoth and EVH brands that really sour my milk. Go start your own label for that stuff.

Why? It's his money now and he can do what he wants with the brands. Maybe he should start doing covers until he plays better like VH did ? You don't think he was carrying a lot of weigh around 10-15 years ago with his father being who he was? He's only 30 year old right now.

mozz wrote: ↑Mon Feb 21, 2022 7:15 pm Why? It's his money now and he can do what he wants with the brands. Maybe he should start doing covers until he plays better like VH did ? You don't think he was carrying a lot of weigh around 10-15 years ago with his father being who he was? He's only 30 year old right now.

You echo'd what I just said about he can do what he wants. The question is, why would you use those names to do it?

If he released a WVH guitar and named his band anything but Mammoth, it wouldn't seem like he's pissing on his dad's grave.

It's not much different from people preferring Gibson make Les Pauls and not Super Strats. It just feels dirty and wrong.

mozz wrote: ↑Mon Feb 21, 2022 7:15 pm Why? It's his money now and he can do what he wants with the brands. Maybe he should start doing covers until he plays better like VH did ? You don't think he was carrying a lot of weigh around 10-15 years ago with his father being who he was? He's only 30 year old right now.

I read your post again and realized there may be a misunderstanding as to what I'm saying

I don't have a problem with his music, even if it's not my style. I have a problem with him calling it Mammoth.

I don't have a problem with semihollow guitars. I have a problem with calling them EVH guitars.

I'm glad he likes his music and his semihollows. I'm sad he feels the need to make Hyundai stuff using a Ferrari name.

On the one hand the kid had a pretty good life and a big leg up being a musician. on the other the pressure of the Name is bound to doom him. He will never be able to live up to it no matter how good he is.

nomadh wrote: ↑Tue Feb 22, 2022 2:03 am On the one hand the kid had a pretty good life and a big leg up being a musician. on the other the pressure of the Name is bound to doom him. He will never be able to live up to it no matter how good he is.

same for Jimmy vaughn's kid.
had some gummer standing behind on stage just trying to rev up the crowd, as if the kid was the rightful heir to guitar greatness..but the playing was just ho-hum to boring. Must be a ring around his neck. He'ld do better to play under a fake name. Then he might feel some sauce on his own.

nomadh wrote: ↑Tue Feb 22, 2022 2:03 am On the one hand the kid had a pretty good life and a big leg up being a musician. on the other the pressure of the Name is bound to doom him. He will never be able to live up to it no matter how good he is.

Bingo.

That's why the only reasonable move is not to trash it.

You don't use your dad's names. He's got all the money from those lines, just create subdivisions. Create a WVH branding UNDER the EVH brand.

Yes, but there is the other side to the Mammoth name....



I am gonna go out on a limb and say that Wolf doesn't give a hairy elephant butt about what we think.

And I still can't listen to "Distance."

Rollin Hand wrote: ↑Tue Feb 22, 2022 10:14 am Yes, but there is the other side to the Mammoth name....



I am gonna go out on a limb and say that Wolf doesn't give a hairy elephant butt about what we think.

And I still can't listen to "Distance."

Omg.

I actually like that fatman song.

I dunno. People like Eddie make their names by going a completely different way, and that's great. There's a dichotomy in being the descendant of someone like that. Do you mirror their public image and stay pure to that, or do you mirror their ideals and try to make something of your own? So it's probably impossible to keep everyone happy as the offspring of greatness.

Most of the kids who follow in the business are at best shallow reminders of the parents that gave them big names. Yeah, I'm saying it's typical for those kids to be disappointments in some way. Maybe the best counter example I can think of is Mozart, who went into his father's line, but was way better. But I don't think we have enough history to understand how that happened. I do know his father propped up his career and made him the center of attention, but Mozart got most of his musical sensibilities from his father. I do have to wonder though, whether Eddie named Wolfie after Wolfgang Mozart expecting to make his son the greatest musician of his time later. If so, that's a lot to live up to.